Brittany Lavelle Tulla, BVL Historic Preservation Research

Brittany V. Lavelle Tulla

Proprietor & Lead Architectural Historian

BVL HPR was established through Brittany’s passion to “humanize” old spaces and places. Eager to use research to bring soul, identity, and purpose back to misunderstood or forgotten structures, Brittany has dedicated her life to showcasing stories of past generations so that we may better understand, honor, and USE America’s historic buildings. In addition to leading BVL HPR, Brittany serves as a commissioner on the City of Charleston’s Commission on History and sits on the Board of Directors for the Preservation Society of Charleston and the Board of Managers for the South Carolina Historical Society. She is a member of the SC250 Steering Committee and has taught in Clemson University’s School of Architecture as well as the College of Charleston’s Historic Preservation and Community Planning program. Previously, Brittany served as Executive Director and Lead Architectural Historian for the Charleston World Heritage Coalition, where she helped advance efforts to secure World Heritage recognition for Charleston’s historic resources. She has also served as a commissioner on the Town of Mount Pleasant Historical Commission.
Brittany holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Elon University, and she earned a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from Clemson University’s joint program, where she was awarded the Ann Pamela Cunningham Award. Her graduate thesis focused on the powerful role of the women of Drayton Hall, where she received a research fellowship.
Since the firm's founding, Brittany was one of ten women honored in the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America's national “Power in Preservation” exhibit in Washington, D.C. that celebrated the role of women in preservation, named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 40 Under 40: People Saving Places, one of three women featured in Historic Charleston Foundation's inaugural “Women Who Impact Preservation” series and keynote speaker for Fortune 500 companies, national interest groups, municipalities, schools and preservation programs across the nation on the value and power of historic preservation.

Amanda Metze

Architectural Historian & Historic Tax Credit Consultant

Amanda is constantly curious about the world around her. Her fascination with the built environment, particularly old buildings, led her to earn a bachelor's degree in architecture with a minor in history at Clemson University. During her time at Clemson, she held various internships in both history and architecture and gained experience with historic preservation tax credits, adaptive reuse, historic research, and commercial architecture. A semester at the Clemson Design Center in Charleston brought Amanda to Charleston, where she first interned for BVL HPR. After relocating to the Upstate, she worked for a couple of years in residential and commercial architecture, where she cultivated a passion for thoughtful and detail-oriented design, building systems, and deepened her understanding of how people interact with the spaces around them. Upon returning to Charleston, Amanda excitedly joined the BVL HPR team once again. She most enjoys the historic tax credit process, but is constantly excited to learn and tell stories of the buildings around her–big and small! Amanda is most passionate about human stories and how those stories both shape and are shaped by architecture and the world around us. Every building has a story, you just have to look close enough.

Emilie Crossan

Architectural Historian & Researcher

Emilie first interned at BVL HPR in the Fall 2019 semester. She was hired part-time to continue her work as a research assistant. She graduated from the College of Charleston in 2021 with a BA in Historic Preservation and Community Planning and a BA in Jewish Studies. Taking the following year as a gap year, she continued her work with BVL HPR and took an additional research position at Pearlstine/ Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture, documenting the history of South Carolina's synagogues and congregations. Emilie took a year of absence to earn her master's degree in architectural history and recently graduated from University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture. Her dissertation combined her passions in architectural history and Holocaust studies in her thesis titled “The Proposed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre:
A study on Holocaust memorial architecture, the history of the UK's memorial project, and a critique of its design and success.” She is excited to have returned to Charleston to pursue her passion of uncovering the stories of marginalized communities through architecture and house histories.

Gabby Rowsam

Architectural Historian & Researcher

Gabby first discovered her passion for historic preservation through her own genealogical research, uncovering the preserved historic structures her ancestors built and called home. While studying at the College of Charleston, she interned with BVL HPR during the Spring 2020 semester and conducted an independent study researching CofC’s historic campus expansion, discovering the vast amount of historic fabric in the surrounding built environment that was deemed unworthy of preservation during the 20th century. Her work was featured in the College of Charleston Magazine, and she presented her findings at the College of Charleston’s Inaugural Expo in 2022, earning second place for her oral presentation that highlighted demolished buildings that were formerly located on the college campus.
She graduated in 2022 with a B.A. in Historic Preservation and Community Planning and a B.A. in Art History. She went on to receive the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Mildred Colodny Diversity Scholarship for Graduate Study and attended Clemson University’s graduate program in Charleston, earning her M.S. in Historic Preservation in 2024. As part of the scholarship, Gabby interned with the National Trust for Historic Preservation during the summer of 2023, working with the Route 66 Legacy Business program to support and preserve historic businesses along the route as it approached its centennial in 2026. Following her internship, Gabby continued to work with the National Trust as a part-time Research Associate for two years.
Gabby joined BVL HPR as a part-time Research Assistant when she began graduate school in the fall of 2022. Her continued studies in the Lowcountry deepened her understanding of the ongoing challenges facing historic structures and preservation efforts in the region. She is driven by a commitment to uncovering the untold stories of the individuals whose lives are intertwined with historic places.